City launches voter education website

The 2014 election promises to be important, complicated and contentious for Santa Monica residents but City Hall hopes the launch of the 2014 SMVote.org website will help voters make informed decisions regarding the important issues.

The site, administered by the City Clerk’s office, provides a centralized source for election information including updates on ballot initiatives, voter registration information, a calendar of important dates, municipal election code, videos from CityTV and the site will host election results in November.

City Clerk Sarah Gorman said City Hall chose to launch the site well in advance of the November election as residents are already being bombarded with information about upcoming ballot initiatives for the Hines project and Airport charter.

“It is early in the election season because there are two ballot measures,” she said. “One has been circulated and one being circulated now, we wanted to make sure the public had a way to access information about those ballot initiatives as the process moves forward.”

Gorman said much of the information available on SMVote is available in other places but SMVote brings it all together in a way that is easy for residents to access and understand. “It’s centralized election information all in one place,” she said. “Additionally it’s been constructed to be scalable and easily visible on mobile devices.”

The site first launched in 2012 and Gorman said it is well used by the public. “We found it to be very useful,” she said. “It’s helpful because it’s a nice easy url that we can say quickly to people and they can understand, SMVote.org.”

She said the site is also necessary given Santa Monica’s high level of voter turnout and the desire by many residents to engage in the political process.

“People really care and it’s terrific to be able to provide them with information,” she said.